May 19, 2008

Doggerel?...Excellent! (by Jenny Factor)

Poor Will had a wicked reputation for writing about Public Tragedy with so much pathos that his listeners would laugh...or moan! I first read his poem about the Tay Bridge collapse of 1879 in my dog-eared guide book while I stood on the bridge near Dundee--pregnant, hot, and nauseated. Perhaps it was our recent visit to the statue of the Loyal Terrier (see Greyfriar's Bobby) that made my heart well in sympathy for this Creator of Doggerel (already a very sad use of the word "dog" in connection with verse).

But I like McGonagall, and that's a fact!

Now a poet-friend, Scott Miller, has forwarded me this latest bit of news from Friday's BBC Online:

Comments

Poor Will had a wicked reputation for writing about Public Tragedy with so much pathos that his listeners would laugh...or moan! I first read his poem about the Tay Bridge collapse of 1879 in my dog-eared guide book while I stood on the bridge near Dundee--pregnant, hot, and nauseated. Perhaps it was our recent visit to the statue of the Loyal Terrier (see Greyfriar's Bobby) that made my heart well in sympathy for this Creator of Doggerel (already a very sad use of the word "dog" in connection with verse).

But I like McGonagall, and that's a fact!

Now a poet-friend, Scott Miller, has forwarded me this latest bit of news from Friday's BBC Online: